Jacob Kettler
Encyclopedia
Baltic German
The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia is the name of a duchy in the Baltic region that existed from 1562 to 1569 as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569...
(1642–1682). Under his rule, the duchy was brought to its greatest peak in wealth and engaged in colonization
Courland colonization
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, being small but wealthy took a modest part in European colonialism, in West Africa and the Caribbean.- History :...
.
Life
Kettler was born in Goldingen (Kuldīga)Kuldiga
Kuldīga is a town in western Latvia. It is the center of Kuldīga municipality with a population of approximately 13,500.Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic League in 1368...
. He was the son of Wilhelm Kettler
Wilhelm Kettler
Wilhelm Kettler was the second Duke of Courland, a region of Latvia. Wilhelm ruled the western Courland portion of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia while his brother Friedrich ruled the eastern Semigallia portion.Wilhelm Kettler was the youngest son of Gotthard Kettler and his wife Anna of...
and Sofie Hohenzollern
Sophia of Prussia (1582-1610)
Duchess Sophie of Prussia was a German princess of the Duchy of Prussia and a member of the House of Hohenzollern....
, Princess of Prussia, a daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
Albert Frederick was duke of Prussia from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the second and last Prussian duke of the Ansbach branch of the Hohenzollern family.-Duke of Prussia:...
. He was the godson
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
of King James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. Under Kettler's rule, the duchy traded with nations like the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In 1651 he sent a fleet to build Fort Jacob on the Gambia River
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
on the island that would later be known as St. Andrews in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. In 1654 he conquered Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
with the Das Wappen der Herzogin von Kurland, a double decker ship which was armed with 45 cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s and carried 25 officials, 124 Courlander soldiers, and 80 families of colonists. The colony on Tobago was named Neu Kurland ("New Courland").
The duke was taken prisoner by the Swedes
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
from 1658 to 1660, during the Northern Wars
Northern Wars
Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised...
. During this time, his colonies were attacked and lost and his fleet destroyed. After the war ended, he rebuilt the duchy's fleet, and retook the island of Tobago from the Dutch. Some believe he also intended to colonize Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, which had at that time been discovered and claimed by the Dutch whom he was at war with. He supposedly had the blessing of Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
. However, the pope soon died, and the new pope was unwilling to support the plan. The duke died in Mitau (Jelgava)
Jelgava
-Sports:The city's main football team, FK Jelgava, plays in the Latvian Higher League and won the 2009/2010 Latvian Football Cup.- Notable people :*August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein - linguist, folklorist, ethnographer...
on 1 January 1682.
Issue
Kettler married Margravine Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg (1617–1676), the daughter of George William, Elector of BrandenburgGeorge William, Elector of Brandenburg
George William of Brandenburg , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was margrave and elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia from 1619 until his death. His reign was marked by ineffective governance during the Thirty Years' War...
and had issue:
| Name | |Death | Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg Frederick II of Hesse-Homburg , also known as the Prince of Homburg was Landgraf of Hesse-Homburg. He was also a successful and experienced general for the crowns of both Sweden and of Brandenburg, but is best remembered as the eponymous hero of Heinrich von Kleist's play Der Prinz von Homburg.-... ; had issue; died aged 33 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christina Kettler | - | - | never married; died young |
| Ladislas Friedrich Kettler | - | - | never married; died young |
| Frederick II Casimir Kettler Frederick Casimir Kettler Frederick Casimir Kettler was Duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1682 to 1698... |
6 July 1650 | 22 January 1698 | married (1) Countess Sophie Amalie of Nassau-Siegen; had issue (2) Margravine Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg , was a Duchess consort of Courland, Margravine consort of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and Duchess consort of Saxe-Meiningen. She was married to Duke Frederick Casimir Kettler of Courland, Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of... ; had issue; died aged 48 |
| Charlotta Maria Kettler | 17 September 1651 | 1 December 1728 | never married; became the Abbess in Herford; died aged 76 |
| Marie Amalie Anna Kettler | 12 June 1653 | 16 June 1711 | married Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Karl I was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1670 till his death.Born at Kassel, he was the son of Wilhelm VI of Hesse-Kassel and Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg, daughter of Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg. After the early death of his father, his mother ruled as regent until 1675... ; had issue; died aged 58 |
| Charles Jacob Kettler | 20 October 1654 | 29 December 1677 | never married; died aged 23 |
| Ferdinand Kettler | 2 November 1655 | 4 May 1737 | married Princess Johanna Magdalene of Saxe-Weissenfels; no issue; died aged 81 |
| Alexander Kettler | 16 October 1658 | 1686 | never married; died aged 28 |